The Jewish History Museum will host “Hidden Ones: A Veil of Memories,” a book signing and talk with novelist Marcia Fine, as part of its exhibition from the New Mexico History Museum, “Fluid Identities: New Mexican Crypto-Jews in the Late 20th Century.”
The free talk will be held Tuesday, May 15 at 1 p.m.
“Hidden Ones,” Fine’s seventh book, explores the lengths a family in Mexico City must go to evade religious persecution for secretly practicing Judaism — risking discovery, imprisonment and even death — while helping the matriarch of the family escape from prison during the 17th century Inquisition.
Today’s citizens of the Southwest are linked to this history, says Fine. She explains, “When the Inquisition expanded to open offices in Lima, Peru, Mexico City and Cartegena, Colombia, fear spread through all the areas controlled by Spain. That included almost half of North America. Many traveled north into the Southwest Territories to escape. Today there are many discovering their heritage in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado through DNA and genealogy.”
One of Fine’s previous historical fiction novels, “The Blind Eye: A Sephardic Journey,” was chosen by the Arizona State Library as the OneBookAZ for 2015.
Fine lives in Scottsdale. For more about her work, visit marciafine.com.
